Last week, I asked the question what are you doing differently from a year ago. There simply were not many answers. So i guess everyone is perfectly continent or they are in a hurry up and wait mode.

I have to wonder - What is holding you back from achieving that goal that set? Before answering that, it is a pretty good idea to in fact have a goal, or least a direction.

I am hoping to hear this. More over, if I was Jeffery - and setting up a a convention, this could turn out to be a wish list for the group.

Good question.

For me it's fear of " overpaying" for property that just just doesn't make sense financially.

It's also fear of the unknown.

For example, What new strategy should one try. I think many of our Mr. Landlord friends here are in a older demographic. Not much room for a financial error at this point, especially if you have the legacy plan for the children.

Sometimes it's just easier to do nothing and fine tune what you have.

I am getting to the age where I can't make too many mistakes. So fear of unknown like DnB.

I have a plan and I am sticking to it so some of it is just staying on the path.

I'm in that "older demographic" that DnB mentioned.

A year ago, I thought the two SFH is a good neighborhood were going to be my retirement. I had sold all the lower quality properties over the years, paid off debts, and this was (is) my goal - to have just a couple/few NICE, free & clear houses to supplement my retirement.

Things changed. The city sent notices that they were planning to take a chunk of my side yard to widen the road & add a sidewalk.That included my fence and a nice, mature row of bushes. And construction for who knows how long. That didn't appeal to me at all. So, when it became vacant, I sold it - and made a profit.

The other one was one street over in the same nice neighborhood and was still being fully renovated at that time, but I had already gotten to know the neighbor.

Literally the neighbor from H*LL! NO decent person would EVER want to live next to them. I want decent people as tenants, who don't leave the first chance they get - so I sold that one, too - and made a profit. (Good luck to the young couple who bought it.)

So much for my retirement plans : ( Now I had a bunch of $$$ instead of profit-generating property.

What is different now is that I am specifically focusing on mid-term rentals. I have an in-law studio attached to my own home that I have rented that way for a while. And then there was a convention speaker who encouraged me to expand that.

Since I was now "homeless", I looked specifically for a property that would meet the criteria I have for mid-term rentals (like traveling nurses). Something different is that I spent MORE TIME & EFFORT DOING RESEARCH & looking at properties to find just the right type. Because I was willing to look farther away (a little) into neighborhoods I wasn't so familiar with. And because I had a very specific demographic in mind.

I spoke at my REIA last year about finding the right tenant & said that you should first decide what type of tenant you want, THEN buy the property that will attract them. So I took my advice.

I used my renovation experience to choose the right type of construction that could be divided into more than one unit. Like a crawl space, to plumb a second bath - not a slab, a workable layout/size, etc.

Research shows that travel nurses prefer their own private space over a room in a larger, shared house. It also shows that a large percent of them travel with an animal - primarily dogs. Research also showed me that where I bought this one has had many more inquiries for MTR than there are available, AND NOT ONE in the whole area (confirmed again a couple days ago) offers a whole unit that is pet friendly. So there is my focus. I found one that checked off a bunch of requirements to be able to market to this demographic.

I have now under full-gut-job-renovation in a GREAT location that will be a very profitable 2-unit MTR, once it's up & running. At least twice the rent compared to a SFH, using all the profits from my 2 SFH - so almost free & clear. It doesn't look like I'll quite make that goal. But, it will be ALL brand new (NO maintenance issues) & once I get the system working with some good reviews & a turn-over team, I'll have the retirement freedom that I want with enough income to travel and do what I want. It's much more modest than many others, but it's what I want.

Something else different will be, instead of renting an empty house with utilities, etc the responsibility of the residents, I will be providing much more of a service to the temporary residents. A different focus (although I've been doing similar in my studio) of providing the BEST experience to the resident and their dog - so that my units will be THE place to go in the area. Things like providing a pet bed in the right size, information on the nearest emergency vet, a "fire-hydrant space" in the fenced back yard with a baggie-holder, a grill & outdoor eating area, and of course, nicely decorated with all the furnishings and utilities.

It should be in service this summer, but I've have major delays with the electrician getting work done. First time & last time hiring them, but at least they are familiar with the local inspectors. I've also been taking time off to travel & go see kids & grand babies. Getting a jump on that retirement dream.

What's holding me back? Nothing really. Sometimes I'm content to be where I am. Charging forward into the next thing isn't always the correct decision.

History nerd note: Alexander the Great conquered 1/4 of the world in a span of a few short years, but then it all fell to pieces after his death because he never consolidated his gains or planned for anything other than the next conquest. There's a lesson we can learn from that.

When I got sick, we realized we did not have anyone else who knew what I knew. At all. At approximately the same time, Covid hit, my grandson was born and schools shut down. Someone needed to care for him and it couldn't be me (three hours away and sick.)

So DIL and DS#3 decided he would stay home as DIL had the higher-paying job and better insurance, and he would also take on the job of setting up new systems for us from the ground up, working as a consultant to us. We joined Buildium and started moving almost the entire rental process there: applications, leasing, money collection, communication, property inspections, etc.

We maybe bought one house I can't remember but the goal was to get the systems in place, as Jeffrey has ALWAYS preached and as we had ALWAYS meant to do. Thank goodness we got the wake-up call we needed to get it done.

There's more to teach him, but DS could muddle through at this point if he had to. So now we can grow again - adding properties wouldn't upset the applecart.

Differently?

More training.

More streamlining of systems (pushing online).

Less stressing over what is going on which leads to burnout.

Newest goal that I just added this year is when I have a turnover I need to look at it and decide if anything should be done in the place. Instead of it has to be done now I am trying to be more pro-active for future needs.

Little things in the current rehab include painting the bathroom ceiling semi-gloss white. It is a low ceiling at an angle. Easy to bump stuff into it and this way maybe easier to clean as well.

Replaced the guts in the toilet. Most likely will replace the bottom element in the water heater. All bulbs replaced with LEDs. Deciding on if I will LVP the enclosed front porch or paint the floor with epoxy.

Will have nothing inside that shouldn't last a lot of years so I can avoid dealing with it. Outside things like roof on house and garage and some siding repairs I will do while tenant is in place. Already discussed it with them.

Not quite meeting the goal, which was to have very few nice houses for professional job tenants. I sold, combined for 1031, got it down to three, which was perfect, and then the crazy inflation eating away my cash like crazy, so I bought another house that I don't really want.

But glad I did it. I had enough for a really nice 3-2-2 with change, inflation got it down to the house without change, and now that same amount of money might get a building lot or perhaps an old beat up mobile home.

What’s holding me back? For the first twenty years: my wife. There is absolutely zero malice or resentment in that statement. That’s just the way it is. She has a limited tolerance me spending nights and weekends on rehabs, etc. You all know the drill.

For the last five years: contentment. What I have is generally humming along smoothly, and I’m past the point in my life where I’m an aggressive go-getter. As an example, I used to always spend July 4th on rehabs, landscaping projects, etc. It was a great day to make progress when everyone else was standing still. I don’t want to do stuff like that anymore. I just want to wake up, go the parade, and put some hotdogs on the grill..

If I were being honest, I would say what usually holds me back is myself.

I am in the "retired" mode. Am now hiring most of the repairs etc. Not looking to expand..exceeded my initial goals by nearly quadruple. Have plenty of cash flow for the rest of my life- and it is only going to get better. Another 3 years and most of the properties will be mortgage free.